Keena's Journey
by Emerald Arcanine
Summary: A new League policy is forcing pokemon breeders to earn eight badges before they can be certifed as official breeders. Keena must now go on that famed journey and earn badges if she hopes to realize her dream as a growlithe breeder.
1. Chapter 1

_A Note from the Author: Hello readers! Welcome to my version of the original trainer fic. I do hope you find this enjoyable, even though it occasionally deviates from the standard canon game version of trainer events. Feel free to comment or critique. _

_Pokemon is licensed to the Pokemon Corporation and to Nintendo Inc. I do not own pokemon._

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The letter arrived at a bad time. The assistant, a youth of about 11 years, opened it as was his normal routine, and read it. He grimaced at the end and carried it off down the hallway. He opened a door carefully, gingerly, as if fearful of waking some terrible beast or creature. The youth was fearful, but it wasn't of any pokemon held within the sterile, bright room. It was a fear of the woman who was in the room, working at something in the room's center. The youth approached slowly, and cleared his throat to announce his presence.

"Not now, Jake!" was the response.

"Key, it's from the League." Jake said nervously.

"Well unless the League sent someone to take care of what I'm working on now while I read it, then it'll have to wait." She called back.

Jake nodded, even though the woman wasn't watching him. She was engrossed with a large incubator. Inside were hundreds of egg shards and empty shells, and also about 15 tiny growlithe pups. They mewed and whined as they tried to walk and move. The woman was sorting them, with males on the left and females on the right. It was a tough job, as the bundles of fur were still very hot from their stay in the super heated incubator. Even a pair of industrial strength oven mitts could not fully shield the woman's hands, and she occasionally let out a yip and snatch her hand back. That and the growlithes' constant movement made the job frustrating.

An hour later and it was finished, and each newly hatched growlithe was sleeping contentedly in a small heated cage. Exhausted, the woman flopped into a large chair in a cluttered office. Jake once more approached, the letter in hand.

"Key, the letter." He reminded.

"Yes, yes, all right. Let me see it." She said, and took it.

'Dear breeder, the Pokemon League of Kanto wishes to inform you of a new policy that may pertain to you. Due to an increase in amateur breeding centers, the League will now be requiring all breeders to have obtained the eight Kanto badges to certify their ability as a trainer before we will accredit them as a League Breeder. Please contact us if you have any questions. This policy will go into effect immediantly.' The letter said.

Keena O'Connell, the 'breeder' being addressed in the letter frowned. Jake shrunk back; he had worked here long enough to anticipate the reaction that would come. Keena growled and bunched her fist around the letter.

"All eight badges?! Those ingrates! How dare they? I can't afford to leave here and go traipsing off on some badge seeking journey! This is exactly why I choose not to be a pokemon trainer."

Keena cursed, crumpling the letter and pitching it at the office door. She growled and moaned and shuffled papers in her anger and frustration. There were currently 15 growlithe pups that would need to be cared for and placed into pokeballs, and there were another 19 eggs that would hatch any day. There were also 8 older growlithe who were being raised until old enough to be adopted out, and there were 5 adult arcanine that needed care. Not to mention the paperwork that had to be done, the people who would arrive to adopt the older growlithe, the bills needing to be paid, and everything else associated with running a full time breeding facility.

Most people who became trainers did so at the age of 12 or 13. Keena, at 19, was young for a breeder, but old for a trainer. Keena had gone through school, gotten good grades, and had watched all of her friends leave to be trainers. Of course most now worked normal jobs and had families. Very few trainers remained trainers for long. The demands put on the body and mind were great, and to raise six pokemon or more all while hiking around the country wasn't exactly an easy way to make a living. Those who still trained after obtaining their badges were few and far between. And most didn't even get all of the badges.

Keena had seen no romance or necessity in romping around in the woods and wandering around trying to catch and raise pokemon. She loved growlithe and arcanine, and had no interest in any other species. That was why she'd become a breeder. And now it looked like she'd have to take the route of a trainer anyway. Keena finally sighed and stood up. She walked out of the office, instructing Jake to clean it up and attempt to organize.

Keena ran a hand through her long reddish/brown hair and sighed. She was of average height, and wore long canvas pants and a t-shirt. A headband tied back long bangs and she wore glasses that were scratched in places and dirty. She had a cheap watch on, and her fore arms were scarred with old and new burn marks from feisty pups. The rugged woman was built sturdily. She walked through the open warehouse that belonged to her facility, and she saw the older growlithe out amongst the volcanic rocks that had been built specifically for their species to play on. The indoor play area was good for training purposes as well.

She went past them and out through a heavy door. Outside was a small grassy field with tall wavy grasses and a small natural creek running through it. Since the arcanine were able to regulate their own temperature and had been carefully raised to the optimal strength and endurance levels, they were kept outside, were they could run and stretch. Keena could see two of them close by at the fence's edge. Their markings indicated that one was a male named Kava and the other a female named Vanua. Further on there was a smaller female drinking from the creek. A nick in her ear showed her to be a female named Tanna. A small male was seen further on, chewing on one of several large rawhide bones given to the arcanines. He was Bakar, a more aggressive pokemon than the others. Keena wasn't looking for any of them though, she was seeking the fifth arcanine, a large male whom she could see racing around the field. She stood at the fence and waited. He soon neared her and slowed, moving to stop in front of her, growling happily. This was Brush, Keena's first pokemon.

Given to her at the age of 10, he'd been a bundle of energy and had been fun to train during her long study sessions at school. When she'd turned 12, her one desire was to breed him and have lots of growlithe pups to play with. By the time she was 16, she was the sole owner and employee of The Outer Islands Growlithe Breeding Facility. At the age of 17 the Pokemon League had recognized her as a full time breeder and had accredited her, at least she'd thought they had.

Keena reached up and scratched the long orange muzzle of the happy arcanine. Brush smothered her in warm kisses, and Keena returned his affection with a strip of jerky from her pocket. She sighed, slowly resigning herself to the journey ahead. Finally she pulled a pokeball off of her belt and displayed it to the arcanine, who wagged his large tail excitedly and barked.

"Looks like we're going on a journey, Brush." She said, and recalled her arcanine.


	2. Chapter 2

_Pokemon is licensed to the Pokemon Corporation and to Nintendo Inc. I do not own pokemon._

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"Now remember that the new pups need to be introduced to the older ones slowly. Oh and don't forget that two of the older growlithes are close to evolution time. You'll find their fire stones in my upper left desk drawer. But don't evolve them too early. Oh, and don't forget about the Open House on Thursday. Only the older growlithe are for sale, to be evolved at extra expense. And get the money up front. Are you getting all of this?" Keena asked, her mouth running a mile a minute.

Poor Jake was simply nodding, a notebook in his hands and a pencil racing across the paper. He already had a full 3 pages of chores to be done while Keena was gone.

"Now the two arcanine that you'll evolve will be picked up by Blaine next week. Make sure he pays you, takes the arcanine, and leaves. Don't let him hang around, or he'll surely cause trouble. Oh, and the bills need to be paid. Where'd I leave them? And I think we need to order more jerky and food. Oh, maybe this isn't such a good idea…"Keena continued, shuffling papers on her desk.

Jake came over and stopped her.

"Key, relax. You have to go on this journey, and I'll do fine on my own. I've worked here for how long? Please, go and pack. I'll be fine." The assistant reassured her. Keena sighed.

"Yes, I suppose you're right." She agreed, leaving her mountain of paperwork behind her to go upstairs to her apartment. Behind her Jake sighed in relief and slumped into a chair, reading over his chicken-scratch notes with a frown. Keena packed quickly, taking only what she saw as essentials. She'd gone camping often enough to know what was needed and what was dead weight. Four hours later she finally came downstairs, huge pack balanced on her back. Keena sighed. Might as well head off now, since she had to do this. Curse the League and their incessant rules, though. Keena said good bye to Jake and issued several final instructions. It was time to get this over with.

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Keena stared at the thing in front of her. Her pokedex was calling it a Weedle, but Keena was sure they weren't supposed to be so…repulsive. The stinger on it's rump looked absolutely deadly, and it's skin was the oddest shade of orange Keena had ever seen. She nervously side-stepped it and hurried on. The ferry ride to Cinnabar Island had been uneventful, and perhaps even fun. Even the short flight on the rented Pidgeot had been alright. But now that Keena had arrived in Viridian Forest, the reality of her journey hit her. There were many pokemon around her that were definitely not growlithe or arcanine. Keena didn't like other pokemon, and had always insisted that strays be turned away from her facility in the event of their arrival.

It wasn't that she feared them, it was simply that other pokemon were unworthy of her attention. Only the mighty fire dogs could command her love. Keena especially hated bug pokemon and water pokemon. Water pokemon could defeat her precious arcanines, so she avoided them. Bug pokemon were just creepy. And now she was in a forest filled with them. She was walking as fast as she could, but her feet hurt. She was certain she had a blister on her right heel. As night fell, the young woman hurried ever onward, her goal of Pewter City coming even closer. In fact she stopped only once, to battle an annoying young boy of about 13 years. The kid had jumped out in front of her suddenly on the path through the woods.

"A trainer! Want to battle?" the kid asked. Keena backed up a step, unsure.

"Oh, well, I'm kind of in a hurry, and…"

"Ah, come on. I promise to beat you quickly." The boy whined.

It was more the suggestion of getting beaten by some annoying kid than anything else that convinced Keena. She frowned.

"Alright fine, one on one. Let's see how good you are." She replied coldly.

"Yeah! Go Needles!" he yelled, tossing a pokeball.

Keena was disgusted to see that a large weedle appeared. It gurgled something to its trainer before slinking towards Keena. She stepped back quickly and grabbed for her only pokeball.

"Brush!" she called, releasing the big arcanine. The kid whimpered a bit upon seeing the big fire dog, but he didn't back down.

"Poison Sting, Needles!"

"Flamethrower, Brush."

The little weedle charged forward in an amusing slinking fashion, but it never even got close to Brush. The big arcanine released a small jet of flame that quickly sent the weedle scurrying back, crying out and screeching in pain. It fainted. Keena hadn't even stuck around for her prize money. She simply recalled Brush and walked away. Pewter City came into view just as the sun dipped below the horizon. Keena went to the pokemon center and handed over Brush's pokeball. Ten minutes and 5 dollars later she had him back, healed and ready to go after Brock.

Keena had no intention of lingering around for too long. Her goal was to reach each city as quickly as possible, beat the gym leader, and move on. She was perfectly confident that this strategy would work.

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Keena stared in disbelief at the wall. She lost at the first gym. Not only had she lost in the first gym, but she'd lost to the junior trainer. Oh sure, Brush had beaten the geodude easily enough, but then the trainer had pulled out a larvitar. Brush had been beaten and here she was, waiting in the pokemon center for him to be healed. Pathetic. Now what could she do? If Brush couldn't even beat the first gym then there was no way they'd win against any of the others. Which meant Keena would have to do something she really didn't want to do. Keena would have to train non-growlithe pokemon. She shuddered a bit at the thought. She would not raise bug pokemon, she vowed. And she would raise the others only as long as she had to, and then she'd donate all of them to a children's home or something when she finished her journey. She wouldn't keep them or bond with them or do anything more than train them. Keena stood up and retrieved Brush. Time to go and find something to eat. Tomorrow she would hunt down her first wild pokemon.


End file.
